About Jon Taplin
Jonathan Taplin is a Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. Taplin’s areas of specialization are in international communication management and the field of digital media entertainment. Taplin began his entertainment career in 1969 as Tour Manager for Bob Dylan and The Band. In 1973 he produced Martin Scorsese’s first feature film, Mean Streets
In 1984 Taplin acted as the investment advisor to the Bass Brothers in their successful attempt to save Walt Disney Studios from a corporate raid. This experience brought him to Merrill Lynch, where he served as vice president of media mergers and acquisitions. In this role, he helped re-engineer the media landscape on transactions such as the leveraged buyout of Viacom. Taplin was a founder of Intertainer and has served as its Chairman and CEO since June 1996. Intertainer was the pioneer video-on-demand company for both cable and broadband Internet markets. Taplin holds two patents for video on demand technologies. Professor Taplin has provided consulting services on Broadband technology to the President of Portugal and the Parliament of the Spanish state of Catalonia and the Government of Singapore.
Mr. Taplin graduated from Princeton University. He is a member of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and sits on the advisory board of Public Knowledge. Mr. Taplin was appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the California Broadband Task Force in January of 2007. Mr Taplin is married to the photographer, Maggie Smith and has three children–Daniela, Nick and Blythe.
Great blog. Will be tuned in for more in 2008. Much love, Verona
Stephen Verona
December 25, 2007 at 3:52 am
Great stuff. Please get an RSS feed set up for it. Thanks.
Ohadi Langis
January 12, 2008 at 10:32 am
Keep up the good work! I’ll second Ohadi’s suggestion of getting an RSS feed live.
Joey Hayles
January 12, 2008 at 11:11 am
DOH! I just saw the RSS on your Front Page–maybe make it a bit more prominent? Thanks!
Joey Hayles
January 12, 2008 at 11:13 am
…and he looks like Adam on Mythbusters.
WhoreChurch
January 13, 2008 at 9:37 am
I also love the blog (after being tuned in through BB)! But I couldn’t get the syndication link to work. Am I mental? Are their issues in Safari? Anyone else still having trouble?
JTS
January 14, 2008 at 10:31 am
Sorry about that Mr. Taplin that comment was supposed to post to your post on Goldberg.
rhbee
January 14, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Just dropping a line to let you know I’m linked in to your blog and enjoying the material you’re posting. I hope all is well at USC!
Matt Rosenzweig
January 14, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Jon: Thanks for the great reading. I’ve been tuned in to every post ever since the BoingBoing coverage. When I miss a day, I make sure to catch up. Thanks for the freshness, the frankness, and the un-flaky-ness. –h
Houston
February 14, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Thanks Houston, we just started in January so its taken off pretty quickly. What I like is that everyone is both smart and civil.
A lot of bloggers warned me that the response pages could turn into flame contests. So far this hasn’t happened at all and in fact the discussion keeps getting smarter.
Jon Taplin
February 14, 2008 at 5:18 pm
great blog! bill, rush limbaugh, o’reilly , hannity all should take meds.
http://www.wenjaz.blogspot.com
wen in santa monica
wen mew
February 18, 2008 at 6:40 am
Jon,
Care to comment on McCain’s people positioning him as “the agent of change”? Hmmm… That would take a repudiation of the last seven years of W…wouldn’t it? How will McCain come off as a reforming Republican? And one who is OK with another 100 years of us in Iraq…? Can he spell “non sequetor”? Can I? Google likes a lot of spellings for that, and they’re all wrong in spell-check!
Rick Turner
February 24, 2008 at 2:33 am
Jon, there’s an update to your Dr. Robert Jarvik post. The commercial was pulled:
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695256376,00.html
(the readers’ comments at the bottom are interesting as well)
Dax
February 26, 2008 at 8:08 am
bibomedia
February 29, 2008 at 3:21 am
The blog Snapped Shot was served with a cease and desist letter last week by the AP. What are your thoughts? Is it fair use to make critical comments about AP content?
Daniel
March 2, 2008 at 10:34 am
Dear Jon,
I love your blog. I mean no offense by this but I feel that I have to comment: you look just like Adam Savage from my favorite t.v. show, Mythbusters (Discovery Channel).
Cheers.
Mr. Cheeseburger 9000
March 10, 2008 at 8:32 am
I’d love to see a thread on the Geraldine Ferraro fiasco. Is she on McCain’s secret payroll or has she just lost her ever-lovin’ mind? She’s coming off like the Anti-Christ of the Clinton support street team. Must be dementia kicking in or something…
Rick Turner
March 12, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Carlyle Group and the Federal Reserve guys are running the show and the war goods as well, while this election process in going on. This kind of day must go right up into W’s eyesballs and blow his mind as the puppet with a smile… Where is Chaney, is he in the hospitol I guess!
Bush family touched by subprime crisis
The severity of its liquidity problems indicates that the unfolding financial crisis is taking major parts of the US financial and political elite down with it. Carlyle Capital Corp Ltd, a subsidiary of one of the most influential US private equity funds and closely tied to the Bush family, is in default on several of its securities. Carlyle is an offshore subsidiary of the Washington-based Carlyle Group, one of the most politically powerful private equity firms of the past two decades.
Among the leading partners of the Carlyle Group in recent years have been George H W Bush, father of President George W Bush; James Baker III, the Bush family’s attorney and fixer; and former British prime minister John Major.
john Van Hamersveld
March 15, 2008 at 8:08 pm
Really love this blog, I’ve been subscribing to this since last year.
Xiaofan
March 16, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Thanks for addressing my question. Amazing you used to work with Scorsese.
madmonq
March 17, 2008 at 1:23 pm
consider me fire retardant for the flame wars. all your efforts are worthwhile in my book.
also, my roommates and I were big fans of the “until the end of the world” soundtrack in college. The film was a bit overly ambitious but I still liked it.
Azmanon
March 17, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Just a quick word of encouragement; yours is now the first blog I turn to when I open my feed reader. Thank you for sharing your consistently well-informed and insightful thoughts.
Chris Weekly
March 30, 2008 at 8:12 am
Great stuff, Jon!!
all best
m
Martin Perlich
March 31, 2008 at 2:36 pm
The Last Waltz is probably the greatest concert film ever made! You da man!
satijournal
April 12, 2008 at 10:30 am
Nice to see such a beautiful mind accessible online.
grant czerepak
April 17, 2008 at 11:46 pm
You have created a wonderfully intelligent blog, Jon, that tackles today’s political & media issues. We’ve included on our plochmann.blogspot.com blog & networked with others to get the word out. Great job & we’ll continue to check it.
Mike & Kim Hayward
April 23, 2008 at 9:20 am
Mr. Taplin,
I have a story that may interest you. Folks living in American’s Home Town, Plymouth, MA, are about to vote on a measure to give 50 million tax dollars to David Kirkpatrick, a former Paramount executive, to build a film studio. He’s got a huge astroturf campaign behind this. I can’t think of how this could succeed financially, despite tax rebates for film productions. (Kirkpatrick has said on CBN that he thinks God brought him to Plymouth!) If you want more info, please drop me an email. Folks here in Plymouth could use your insight.
Cheers,
D. Petruk
Dan Petruk
April 27, 2008 at 11:01 am
Jon,
I was a New York State Assemblyman. An acquaintance of years, Dr. Eugene Pugatch, attended a screening of my political comedy Vote For Me! and suggested I reach out to you.
I am trying to secure distribution. The film is about a 70-year old Puerto Rican super who runs for Congress in East Harlem. Dr. Pugatch loved it. You can view a 2-minute trailer at voteforme-themovie.com
Nelson Denis
May 15, 2008 at 1:41 pm
JON,
HOW do I reach you by email?
I have would love to business network with you,
Thanks.
KEN C.
Executive Producer
http://www.koolcampus.com
http://www.koolcampus.wordpress.com
koolcampus
May 25, 2008 at 5:06 pm
JON,
MY apologies.
My PERSONAL email is
koolcampus@gmail.com
KEN C.
http://www.koolcampus.com
koolcampus
May 25, 2008 at 5:07 pm
hello,
I reached here through google search and found this blog very nice and informative.
travelhouseuk
June 3, 2008 at 3:21 am
Hi Jonathan,
Does the name Tom M. Girdler ring any bells? If so, I’d like to thank you for introducing me to clawhammer style banjo…! Thirty-five years later I finally got one and plucked out “Shady Grove.” Decided to see if I could find you. You’ve done well.
Cheers,
Rob
Rob Harrison
June 6, 2008 at 8:55 pm
Hold on! Coming back to me now. It was your little brother _Robert_ who worked on the ore boat with me in 1973. We were the odd boys out on the Tom M. Girdler.
Tell him I said hello, and thanks!
And you still did well.
Rob
Rob Harrison
June 6, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I couldn’t disagree more with many of your political stances. Therefore, I have added it to my blogroll.
Keep up the great work!
scottymck
June 8, 2008 at 6:54 am
[...] have been reading and writing blogs, one that I found early on, and is full of good info is one by Jon Taplin. I will say that most of the time I totally disagree with him. But when he is just stating facts, [...]
Very interesting article from a counterpoint. The Lottery Class « The Business Blog @ Capital Active
June 10, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Jon,
Good on ya, lad. Smart stuff. Keep it up.
All best,
John Eskow
John Eskow
June 24, 2008 at 2:11 pm
God bless Al Gore for inventing the internets.
God bless you Mr. Taplin for creating this blog. I wish I had been a fan of your blog before I has released this video titled ‘Checkmate’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAKJKBCyPUY
It examines the banking industry and how the poor stay on the economic grid throuhg the use of check cashing facilities.
Dallas Penn
July 21, 2008 at 10:46 am
Mr. Taplin,
I’m amazed by the breadth of the websites/periodicals/etc that you cite in your (surprisingly) frequent posts. I’m a college student, and as addicted to online news as I am, I don’t think I have any chance of keeping up with you. I would LOVE if you did a post one day that outlined the websites/newspapers/magazines/whatever that you check daily or weekly, or just a general breakdown of where you like to go to get informed. You always seem to have a well-rounded opinion of what’s going on, and I’m doing my best to do the same.
Thanks for the blog,
Nick
Nick
August 16, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Make sure political discussion doesn’t distract you from producing more great movies.
…Maybe hook up with Tim McCann (Desolation Angels, Revolution No.9) who seems to be able to do some genius things with very low budgets.
Adam
August 17, 2008 at 7:24 pm
hey nice content of your blog sir!!!
jason distor
August 18, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Jon,
A film gem on YouTube, The Spiral. Five parts, so far. http://equityprivate.typepad.com/
I watched all 5 and have have been poking around on the equityprivate site and been educated and entertained.
(via Bruce Sterling, http://blog.wired.com/sterling/)
Stevew
August 21, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Joh,
I’m Valentino from Italy.
I like so much your blog, i follow it everyday.
See you,
Valentino
Valentino
September 1, 2008 at 8:12 am
Need historical info on prior American hegemony forays? Read he book!
Richard DeBold
September 5, 2008 at 1:19 am
For historical info on a prior American hegemonistic foray, read: http://www.bananashooter.com.
Richard DeBold
September 5, 2008 at 1:20 am
nice blog!
I like it and will follow it everyday.
Jeff Chiang
September 5, 2008 at 2:07 am
Hi Jon-
Remember me???? Way back Intertainer days?
I was looking for something else on the web and ran across your Blog.
Just wanted to say Hello, and that I hope all is well.
Cyriese
Cyriese Coleman
September 5, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Jon,
I love your blog, sometimes your heinous misuse of the apostrophe sends me into labor.
this webcomic (published today) made me think of you:
http://m.assetbar.com/achewood/one_strip?b=M^a11f09b8576e606bcb5038dfdb92fb821&u=http%3A%2F%2Fachewood.com%2Fcomic.php%3Fdate%3D09122008
Wordinista
September 12, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Just found your blog. Some excellent charts of military spending and trade deficit and other tidbits. Thanks.
tfitz
September 16, 2008 at 10:46 am
There is an interesting event happening in Colorado. Secretary of State Mike Coffman has been blocking people from voting and purging people from lists. So far 30,000 people have been removed so far and he plans on more. On top of that there is a problem with the ballot in which you can just provide your social for registration. But there is a box that you have to check which people in colorado were told not to check it. Coffman is now saying you have to check it and if you don’t you will be purged from the registration and not allowed to vote. So far 10,000 have been removed this way. Also Coffman is running in an election he is overseeing against Hank Eng.
Boulder Monk
October 23, 2008 at 8:43 am
I came across your name while doing a genealogical search of the Taplin family. Do you know whether you are related to Col. John Taplin from Corinth, VT, circa 1760? If so, we are related – actually, if you are a blood Taplin, we are definitely related. Send me an e-mail, as I have a mass of information. I’m trying to locate contemporary Taplins.
VERY interesting blog you have!
Lynn Taplin
November 13, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Lynn- I am indeed related to Col. John Taplin of Vermont.
Jon Taplin
November 13, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Jon baby, you are such a role model.
Akira Bergman
December 1, 2008 at 9:43 pm
You look like the guy on Myth Busters.
girldujour
December 6, 2008 at 10:25 am
Remembering Rick Danko today who passed away nine-yrs ago…….
Mike & Kim Hayward
December 10, 2008 at 8:04 am
Thank you for your efforts in keeping it real.
I will log on as many times as I get the chance.
Richard Denne
December 14, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I love your blog. You have begun to only offer the abbreviated previews for blog readers. This makes me sad as I do not click into actual blogs as I read many blogs and I have a slow internet connection.
However, I do love your posts. Thanks for considering this thought.
Ryan McGivern and J.J.
December 22, 2008 at 11:48 am
Hi Jon. Thought you should know your blog is one of millions inaccessible through the Great Firewall of China. At least it is inaccessible through a variety of internet connections in Beijing. I don’t know what you’ve done to upset the powers that be in China.
Rachel
December 29, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Hi John,
Your mention of being a member of the Motion Picture Academy made me wonder if you were aware of plans to give Jerry Lewis a humanitarian award at this year’s Oscars. Although Mr.Lewis may have done some good work in helping to raise money for muscular dystrophy, the statements he has gone on record saying about people with disabilities expose the ignorance and contempt with which he holds them, once they are no longer children. Things like, “You don’t want to be pitied because you’re in a wheelchair? Don’t leave your house.”
As an adult with a disability (who is also a graduate of your alma mater), I find the idea that this attitude (no matter how dressed up in false sympathy it is) should be rewarded deeply wrong. I encourage you to learn more about the things Mr. Lewis has done to degrade those he is allegedly helping, and if you see fit, or have any capacity to do so, to make a statement against this award.
I apologize for putting this in a general comment thread, but it didn’t seem appropriate for the actual Oscar thread.
Thank you for your time.
Mia
January 6, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Mr. Taplin — I mentioned an article relating to junk language and the threat it poses to our already handicapped species, where technical and engineering skills and “financial wealth” and all our other great successes far outstrip our collective abilities to point those potential weapons of very mass destruction in a useful direction. Reminds me of a Biblical story about human pride and a tower in some place called Babel.
I found my paper version of the article I referred to. It’s from Harvard Law Review, Vol. 109:1801, and is a book review titled “This Could Be Your Culture — Junk Speech In A Time Of Decadence,” by Pierre Schlag. The book loosely reviewed is “The Death of Discourse,” by Ronald K. L. Collins, Westview Press, 1995. I imagine you can find these references on the net.
Good luck changing the course and momentum of our collective human sociobiomass. You certainly have my prayers for success in moving things maybe a little closer to world homeostasis, the meta-stability that would please old Gaia.
JTMcPhee
January 10, 2009 at 11:55 pm
All of CNBC are idiots – altho’ I agree that Larry Kudlow is the biggest idiot. The other idiots are Trish, Melissa, and Denis Kneale.
They have no solutions – just complaints and criticisms. Listen to their comments on executive compensation. Maybe we can get the Daily Show to make fun of them to get more exposure of their stupidity. Problem is many people follow CNBC and take what they say as intelligent analysis.
Harry Thom
February 10, 2009 at 9:23 am
Just read a PDF scan of an old Rolling Stone article about Philip K. Dick. The article mentioned you tried to negotiate rights to The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. If you ever get a moment, I would love to hear more about that experience.
As always, keep up the good work . . .
Jonathan Putnam
February 18, 2009 at 10:03 pm
My father was Dennis Douglas Taplin from Stevenage, Herts, England. Do you have any relatives in England? Trying to piece together my family tree – have most bits to the early 1800’s.
Thanks, Linda Cain, Victoria, BC Canada
Linda Cain
March 8, 2009 at 10:54 pm
Stumbled on your site trying to google Stephen Moore of the WSJ who was on CSPAN spewing some amazing right wing hog wash at some conservative meeting. Anyways you nailed it on this guy! He is so full of hot air! My only concern is that he really believes what he spews and he is trying to brainwash others as well!
I’ll continue to check out your blog. Regards from the great state of Massachusetts!
Eddie
August 16, 2009 at 10:04 am